The Portland daily press., 1887-04-30
THE DRINK QUESTION.
Some Phases OF 1t as II Appears in
England.
Nefarious Traffic Carried on with
5arbarous Peoples.
Heartlessness OF Hamburg Mer
chants towards Africa.
GLondon Times.J

London Times.
The nation as whole spent a122, 800, 7S5 on
liquors in 1886 as against a123, 26S,9O6 spent
in 1886 net decrease Of e363, 121. Examin-
ing the figures in detail, we find that the
consumption Of spirits, British and foreign
exhibits net decrease Of 1851 gallons; Of
beer there is an increased consumption Of no
less than 1885 gallons, and Of wine
diminished consumption Of 596,245 gallons.
Now, Of the three classes Of intoxicating
liquors beer is In itself the least intoxicating
and is the least used. on the whole, for pur-
poses Of excess; wine comes next, and spirits
are the most intoxicating form Of alcoholic
liquor. Beer exhibits considerable increase
but wine shows large decrease, while spirits
also show moderate decrease. II we take
the total cost of the liquor and apporti0n it
per head to the population, we find that the
cost per head was R3 Is. 3d., against g Is 10d
five persons ZIG 18s. 3D., which is somewhat
less than shilling day. In 1876 the con-
sumption was "a 9s. per head OF population.
There have been slight fluctuations from
year to year during the decade, but the fact
remains that in ten years from 1876 TO 1885,
the cost of liquor per head Of population has
declined from ga 9s. to 93 rs. 10d. or by some
what less than twenty-five per cent.-being
at the rate, say OF 2.3 per cent per annum-
and that 1t exhibits further slight decrease
In 1886. II, therefore, the decennial rate Of
decrease could be maintained, we might al
most hope to reduce the consumption OF
liquor per head of population to harmless
proportions In little more than generation
We do not pretend to think that this would
be legitimate deduction from the figures but
1t serves to illustrate the snares which beset
an unguarded statistical treatment of the sub
iect. There is very little real instruction to
be gained from a bare comparison OF gallons
consumed, pounds expended and population
affected, The only valuable statistics would
be those which should give the proportion Of
excessive to sober consumption; and OF such
statistics we find no trace in the figures. OF
a dozen men, eleven may drink glass Of
wine a day, while the twelfth may drink
three bottles. The total consumption would
be about four bottles, which gives third Of
bottle per man. But the average gives DO
indication Of the moderation Of the eleven,
nor Of the excess Of the one.
Many people think that the eleven men
would be better without their single glass,
and all Twill acknowledge that the twelfth
would be far better without his three bottles
But the total consumption divided by the
number OF consumers gives no trace In the
result either Of the excess OF the one man or
of the moderation Of the eleven. The only
safe differences to be drawn from figures are
that the nation Is gradually becoming more
sober, that its drink bill Is diminishing and
consumption as Is exhibited has taken place
insthe least intoxicating of alcoholic liquors.
We do not know, and we can not tell from
the statistics adduced whether drunkenness Is
decreasing In proportion to the total decrease
Of alcoholic consumption. 1t may be de-
creasing, or 1t may not. The total decrease
of consumption may be due to the fact that
moderate men have given up drinking al
together; 1t may, on the other hand, be due
10 the fact that men formerly given to excess
have abandoned that vicious habit. But the
statistics tell us nothing either way. They
tell us only that the national drink blll.l big
as 1t still Is, Is by no means so big as IL was
ten years ago, and they lead us accordingly
to hope that 1t may be again considerably less
ten years hence. We may take some comfort
from this conclusion, at any rate, though we
must not allow it to persuade us, in the
face Of facts patent to all, that drunkenness is
anything less than a widespread, degrading
and destructive national vice, against which
ID still behooves all good men to fight with
all their energies. But our duties in this re-
spect are not confined to our own people.
We owe, perhaps higher and more urgent
duty to other races, less civilized than our
own, with whom we are brought into contact
either by policy or by commerce. Our habits
and our example have done much harm to
| the hitherto abstemious population Of Lower
Egypt The extension u commercial re-
| iafions with the native tribes Of Africa in
various directions has been accompanied by
q lamentable and most injurious extens-
| ion of the liquor trade. This Is subject
which daily grows in urgency and Importance
The African native has little power to re-
| sist the temptation offered him by the Europ-
| can trader in the shape of cheap and fiery
| liquor. In a pamphlet on "Traffieking
| in Liquor with the Natives Of Africa, which
has lately .beenpublished by the Rev. Horace
| Waller, the friend and fellow-worker OF
| Livingstone, 1t is stated that the native, in
l all parts of Africa which are in contact with
| European influences, is now beginning to cry
1 out to be preserved from his tempter. The
| cry is one which happily does not fall en-
! tirely upon deaf ears in England, for Mr..
| Waller quotes the case of an English mer-
chant who retired from the African trade
because he declined to have any part in the
| liquor traffic, and found 1t impossible TO
/ compete with others who were less serupu-
lous. England is not, indeed, the greatest
i offender in the matter,
In 1884 Great Britain exported COZ, 1928 gal
| Ions of spirits of all kinds to Africa, valued
at fii7, 143, while Germany, chiefly through
Hamburg and Bremen, exportedno less than
7,136,263 gallons valued at e713, 634-more
1 than ten times as much in quantity, though
very little more than six times as much in
| value. This Is grevious scandal, though
we fear that it must be admitted that it is a
very ancient one. The profits on the liquor
l traffic in some parts Of Africa are said to be
\ not less than seven hundred per cent, and
there are comparatively few merchants in
Europe, we are afraid, who would refrain
Il
sentimental grounds, from seeking to share
so lucrative trade as this.
An effort was indeed, made at the West
African Conference held at Berlin to concert
some measures for the control Of the liquor
| traffic in Africa, but it ended in little mort
| than a platonic expression of sympathy witt
''the lofty sentiment which inspired thu
proposition of the English Ambassador"
proposition to the effect that the transit o.
spirituous liquors should be prohibited aloni
II kt.no 80 tka n Hhn ON
ference did not adopt this proposition. Il
contented itself with declaring that the Pow
ers interested in the Niger should nave tne
power to adopt with regard TO the transiI
| Of spirituous liquors, the precautions wnlcn
they may deem necessary in the interests OF
the native populations.
II was not, we fear, the interests of the
native populations that were first considered
at the Berlin Conference; it was rather the
interests Of the Hamburg spirit merchants.
1t will be long time, as Mr.. Waller says be-
| fore local sef-g0vernment and local option
do much to regulate the liquor trafic in
Africa. Hamburg has its own opinion In
the matter, as may be seen from the follow
ing extract from letter quoted by Mr..
Waller, and addressed by the Hamburg
Chamber of Commerce to Mr.. Lang, OF the
Church Missionary Society: Merchants OF
this place interested in the African trade
are Of opinion that measures for the limiting
of this trade"-namely, the liquor trafn'
fare injurious to the development OF thu
trade with those countries, and that the i'm
portation Of those liquors, as carried on a
present, has no injurious effect upon the ma
tives"
The natives ofAfrica are not by any mean
Of the same opinion as the Hamburg Cham
| Der Of Commerce, as Mr.. Walters pamphle
shows. The whole question is difficult on
and we haye not faith in measures Of repres
sion and control as applied to such traffic
A profit of seven hundred per cent laughs a
sentimental philanthropy, and easily break
through such repressive regulations as coul'
be enforced on the African coast or alonI
the trade routes. But public opinion may d
something at least in this country, wher
merchants are upright enough to abandon
trade which they can not reconcile TO thel
conscience.
THE MAN WITH A GLASS EYE.